Sociology

The US tobacco industry is a multi-billion dollar industry. Some of the major companies in this industry are Philip Morris, R.J Reynolds and BrownWilliamson. Since profit making in the tobacco industry comes at a cost of depletion of the human race, it has been subject to a number of class actions suits over the years. Although these legal actions havent either stopped masses from smoking or halted the growth of tobacco companies but have been somehow successful in holding them accountable for their wrongdoings.

There have been cases where tobacco companies have committed false marketing and have been therefore subject to class action suits for example the tobacco industry was sued for using the lights label on their cigarettes which were marketed as less tobacco intensive when infact they were no different then any other cigarettes. This legal action resulted in billions of losses for the tobacco industry increased regulation and increased awareness among smokers which resulted in millions of smokers which were purchasing the so called lights for health reasons to quit smoking altogether. (Medical News Today. 2006)

Class action suits play no major role in the treatment of tobacco addiction, probably because even if tobacco companies are heavily fined or penalized they end up paying damages but do not take the responsibility for the treatment of patients. However one can say that the damages paid can be used the finance the treatment of the ailing ones.

Conclusion
The usage of tobacco still continues to grow and so does the number of pre-mature deaths due to smoking. Class actions suits have been somewhat successful in preventing the use of tobacco and its subsequent treatment but they still have a long way to go in completely eliminating the menace of smoking.